the main presidential candidates in the you asked make their a last ditch attempts to curry favor in crucial swing states r t prepares to give the floor to those also running for the top job but being left out of the spotlight . russia slams western and some arab countries for encouraging the syrian opposition to step up their fight stead of looking for ways to stop the bloodshed. tear gas was fired at thousands of protesters in kuwait as a crackdown on the opposition intensifies in the gulf monarchies which are joy at close friendship with the u.s. .

a.t.m. and the russian capital you're watching r t. we start with the u.s. presidential race where barack obama and mitt romney are in their last gasp dash to win votes in the so-called battleground states polls show the two rivals are still level was roughly forty eight percent support each in the heat of an extremely tough campaign most americans for gabby actually have a bigger choice than just two candidates has been reminding them of the alternatives. here it is the venue for the next presidential debate with the alternative candidates in this election our studio in washington d.c. though it's not very big as you can see will make sure there is lots of room for discussion on issues that some hope don't fit into the mainstream media discourse here alternatives to obama and romney have effectively been pushed out of the major national debates we ask how and why. pushed out and quite

literally jule styne presidential nominee from the green party was the. all. the day of the second presidential debate between mitt romney and barack obama in middle school were right outside the venue where it took place she was there protesting her exclusion from the debate we were tightly bound with plastic restraints and tied to chairs for eight hours for daring to stand up and demand open debates turn out of presidential candidates had their own debate in chicago they brought up issues which the big party candidates never came close to discussing like the legislation signed by president obama which allows the government to indefinitely detain american citizens without charge or due process it's an incredible the trail of our civil liberties on foreign policy the alternative candidates argue there's practically no difference between mitt romney and barack obama regardless of whether or not romney gets elected or obama gets

elected three things are going to happen we're going to find ourselves with a continued heightened police state in this country we're going to find ourselves continuing to militarily intervene in the world which results has resulted in hundreds of millions of enemies to this country that wouldn't otherwise exist the similarity of views that president obama and mitt romney showed during their foreign policy debate became a matter of numerous jokes on foreign policy it appears that all that's left for the presidential race is this one model. i mean at least we still get our choice of color but. the us mainstream media are entirely focused on the two party race the majority of americans know very little if anything about alternatives jule styne of the green party why sit down with before her arrest is not going to be represented on ballot papers in every state the american system is designed to

eliminate political opposition like some of the you know dictatorships that we criticize that have rigged political systems in many ways the american system is also rigged but in ways that are not as straightforward and with the like of interest from the mainstream media small the party see the deck stacked against them in a national vote but not only are americans stuck with a two word phrase but they're also not guaranteed to get the president to the majority cast their votes for in a us presidential election a candidate can win the majority of the popular vote and still lose the election because it's not the popular vote but the electoral college that decides the outcome of the presidential election here so how does it work every state but maine and nebraska give the candidate a certain number of points and the winner has to collect the magic number two hundred seventy points even if a candidate loses a state by just say three votes they get zero points that's how george w.

bush won the election in the year two thousand although he lost in the popular vote he won due to the tricky state to stay score system according to a gallup poll a record foody percent of americans now identify themselves as independents the chief of the federal election commission on the george w. bush michael toner told me in the us electoral system they don't have much choice if you moved away from a winner take all electoral system and once or proportional representation i think you would have far more successful political parties here in the states because there are a large number of americans actually the most. most of the biggest share biggest increase in voter registration today in america is not democrats it's not republicans it's independents if you look at these states large numbers of people now are identifying it as an independent now they often will vote pretty reliably republican or democrat but that's a pretty good indication that there's a million tens of millions of people who if they had their choice might pick

another party but one group that stands to win from the lack of choice are the corporations that contribute lavishly to political campaigns trying to buy support for their companies what we have in this country in many respects is covert corruption legalise corruption in the political system itself being held hostage by special interests is a form of corruption each candidate on the republican and democratic side now spend nearly a billion dollars each in order to get to the white house i mean i think our founding fathers would be spending it in their graves if they could see this while in office mr toner oversaw a campaign finance of the elections the most sophisticated companies what they do is they're in good shape no matter who wins right they hire lobbyists on both sides of the aisle they often make political contributions both sides of the aisle this is called hedging your bets here in america as you would say in las vegas. and in

vegas as they say no matter how you play it the house always wins speaking of us alexion as one could say no matter how you vote business as usual wins it won't be business as usual during the alternative ten of these debate this monday night the candidates will be here in this studio were chosen by online voters as the winners of the last third party debate held in chicago about two weeks ago we brought has that debate life no mainstream us news channel that so an important point to make here is that by giving a media platform to these candidates does not mean that we're indorsing their views it's an honor for us to host the event as we're trying to show what others don't and we also think it's going to get a lot of viewers you're welcome to be one of them i certainly well from our debate ready or almost ready studio here in washington i'm going to. don't miss the special event to watch the third party candidates debate live on our team this monday evening at nine pm e.s.d. . will two parties keep us politics

a one way street. or will new voices disrupt the power power of the. what if america changes track. us election please god monday november fifth on our team. now russia's foreign minister says western efforts over syria are solely aimed at inflaming the situation on the ground and carry our scene change sergey lavrov also said such opposition is only leading to further bloodshed in the rest of country. in geneva four months ago we all agreed the world powers will say the same to the warring sides in syria. this is exactly what russia is doing saying this to both the government and opposition groups use some other nations both western and regional telling the opposition go in fighting for your cause is right you will win it's up to you to decide whose position is creating the danger of more and more deaths in syria. now the israeli army's on alert after the

firing in neighboring syria range closer to its border israel is increasingly concerned the conflict in the arab nation could become its business as well as or in english can i explain there are fears that a change in syrian power could lead to another war in the region. this. remember this generation of young people the number the path to some friends finding runs off to get back to decibels to that country. the capital of the caliphate the capital of the united states if the arabs who would be jerusalem. in just under two years the rage against dictators seems to have turned in a new direction the arab spring uprisings primarily sought to do away with their own regimes they now own creasing only seem to turning. israel with the old leaders out of the pictures the first new governments little to do with the old ways of

tacit compliance if not friendship with israel's existence a pattern that didn't escape israel should get used to a different middle east for all means and. i think that the most important thing is that barak. coming to the fore of the muslim brothers it is definitely definitely much more difficult middle east for israel sprouts of the revolutionary spirits which took over the region appear to have shot up even in places considered by israel here in the golan heights some twenty thousand consider themselves syrian their home country is just across the road has a daily reminder of the home they have lost and though it may be in the grips of a civil war many of them with gladly make their home in a stable syria rather than an israel golan heights where annexed by israel during the six day war with syria forty five years ago though the current unrest in syria

is viewed differently by residents of this village they are united by one thought. israel is a stable country but we in our historic you are part of the syrian nation and it's our culture we want to be on the syrian authority even under this oppressive regime we want to be part of syria before the civil war took over damascus was said to be involved in talks over a peace accord with israel clinton's time ones should power in syria be transferred to the opposition the result will hardly mean peace and stability for tel aviv of course when assad was in full control the assad family in syria. knew what it's going to get from the us and family so to speak i mean the notion was what you see is what you what you see is what you get. although for residents of the golan heights the future of territory is much clearer in the spirit of the arab . bring the two are prepared to burn bridges where you learned so far would.

i go and we'll go back to syria what was taken and we'll have to come back and rule . golan heights. coming up later in the program working parent. british m.p.'s. struggling to. search. for the freedom of speech. wealthy british.

happening to the global economy. headlines. keep us politics a one way street. new voices. changes trucks. monday nov fifth. the only city in europe the host of the twenty fourth when through the picket. dog days are. the dry days it. takes

a calm. sea it's so true. just give me can i speak with you sir let me let me explain my son died in iraq i don't agree you don't agree with. my son isn't isn't it mary and i don't know what is going to be for you fair. share of the country. if the country isn't pure in. the moon or in hope to help you find it. you find in so many old says war. sometimes. the mission of free critic a should be free transport charge is free to make

humans free. free. to type free. download free broadcast quality video for your media projects and free media r.t. dot com you. will see a story and it seems so. you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harvey welcome to the big picture. welcome back you're watching our tina arrival libyan militias have fired guns and rocket propelled grenades at each other in tripoli in one of the worst collapses in security. capitol since former leader muammar qaddafi's fall last year the country

continues to be in disarray with residents of the city of benghazi calling for the autonomy of the oil rich east the editor of the pan-african newswire believes the nato backed revolution of two thousand and eleven has turned the club bad for libya by several decades historically during the period of the ottoman empire as well as a tired colonialism the country was divided basically in the three different regions all three design in the south tripoli the time in the west and of course or annika in the east and as a result of the independence movement in libya after nine hundred fifty one and of course after the seizure of power by gadhafi and his cohorts in nine hundred sixty nine there was a concerted effort to bring about some type of national identity and cohesiveness inside of libya all of that has fallen apart over the last year and this is why we're having these type of sexual conflicts inside the country now local activists in kuwait say security forces detained dozens of pro-democracy demonstrators in another clampdown on breasts in the gulf nation protesters defied kuwait's ban on

public gatherings that was imposed last month as thousands demonstrated against new voting rules it was a peaceful rally but police still resorted to stun grenades and small bombs the opposition claims changes in the electoral system hand an advantage to the pro-government candidates in next month's election geo political analyst eric draitser says. confidently take undemocratic measures comfortable in the knowledge they have the support of the united states the government is terrified look at the protest movement developing in saudi arabia one that's continued to go on in bahrain we see the same around the arab world more generally and kuwait looks at itself or rather the government does and they see that they really stand no chance at maintaining our maintaining control of that country unless they are able to successfully. suppress the and repress the opposition these are client states of

the united states bahrain as is the u.s. fifth fleet the navy kuwait as we all know the role that it played in both wars against iraq kuwait is very much dependent on saudi arabia and the united states and so all of this is part of a geo political calculus of us that gemini us does not want to see its control over the region slip away by something as piddling as the democratic aspirations of the people of the region. and as just mentioned the bahraini regime continues to mute anti-government slogans on the streets on our web site r.t. dot com to find out a way to stand up protest which have been ongoing for more than twenty months now. as the u.k. is set for a clash with its partners over how much britain pays for its membership it seems there is still a chance to save taxpayers money back at home it's been revealed m.p.'s there are spending tens of thousands of pounds flying to exotic destinations on so-called fact finding missions are just our first reports. rio china

miami we might all dream of getting off to some exotic destination but unfortunately in the middle of a double dip recession with thirty measures. we're being kept to ground. for some lucky and just think of the some of those fall flying at the nations of fact finding mission one fact that has been found is that these trips costing millions in tax payers pounds so take a look at the figures they regularly come in at more than forty thousand pounds per trip one shit singapore and china cost a whopping seventy two thousand pounds something has clearly gone wrong when you have a coach trip costing eight to ten thousand pounds per member of parliament on the trip there either. staying in luxury hotels when they could look at more modest accommodation or they're using business class travel when they could travel most of

the rest of us not surprisingly the public's not impressed i certainly think it's excessive and i think they can say taking the piss but they're taking advantage there's absolutely no question can spend their way less than that because i find a good place. if you have the patience to look at the right sites and if the m.p.'s need some advice on how to say the pennies. the public has the bill for that. and they should. send a bill radio you're ok good thing you did while we'd all love to us all into the sunset to help us with the economic crisis those excessive expenditure is going to leave many m.p.'s looking like they simply got their heads in the clouds so the london. more stories are available on our website r.t. dot com including big and business big and again online with gods the story of one

supermodel and her billionaire husband planning to stage an old son's polo match to mark the tycoons fiftieth birthday. box be painted black and orange head to our team dot com where we've lined up a story of one. process and perfectly color for halloween. the case of we can make says one again is once again hitting the headlines and that's after the us national archive blocked any search of hams containing the name of the whistle blowing web site the move on the recommendation of washington it was said to be protecting classified information but last a leader of the u.k. pirate party believes what happened is a clear sign of censorship. mission is largely

a congress that is trying to preserve a collective body of knowledge the job of any line shortly should be to share that knowledge but in front of me not surprising that such organizations that are under pressure actually conform to these kind of classification law but essentially this is still censorship and censorship laws are actually stepping on freedom of speech we often see that united states is very quick to criticize states abroad stepping on premies speech would seem able to to uphold the same standards at home we can see how the point that the principle of whistle blowing both men for democracy. it was now take a look at some other stories from around the world. for neda tappan a church in kenya has claimed the life of

a policeman fourteen other people most of them security officers were warned the country and the wider region have suffered a wave of similar deadly attacks in response to sending troops to neighboring somalia to battle al qaeda linked insurgents earlier this year two other churches were assaulted in the same town leaving eighteen people dead. an eleven year old child has been killed and eighteen people injured after a bomb targeting a police riedel exploded in southeastern turkey no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack the country's officials though put the blame on the kurdistan workers party which has been active in the region trying to attain sovereignty while some of russia's most radical political groups were out of force on sunday from diehard nationalist to outright fascists in dozens of cities tens of thousands joined marches chanting against immigration israel islam in all things foreign. affairs watching the crowds and moscow. the slogans and the messages that

we've been hearing from the crowd behind me is that russia for russians only they want the flag of the russian order they're basically demanding jobs for your russians whatever that means and they're also pushing to repeal the law part of the russian criminal law that actually punishes hate crimes motivated by religious hatred nationalist and that that hatred so it's a message of national unity that probably doesn't sit well with a large chunk of the population now there are some reports about six thousand people in the crowd the permit us for about ten thousand people before some massive police presence here as well the protest seems to be largely peaceful although we've also heard reports of about twenty five people wearing black clothes with the swastika shouting slogans they've been detained in another part of the city center here in moscow we have to keep in mind that this is the play of swastikas is of course banned in russia as well as many european countries similar types of rallies have been taking place across russia and we've heard of another report of about

ninety people detained in the urals city if you can to be in good or taking part of an authorized nationalist rally there now the police say that most of those people were teenagers again a rather disturbing sight frankly we've seen a lot of by nationalist flags sort of icons from the church which i guess is the symbol of some of the people here as well as some reports of people actually chanting long live anders breivik the person far right extremists who has massacred seventy seven people in norway. on just a couple of minutes the latest episode of crosstalk so stay with us for that if you can't.

if. russia would be so much brighter if you knew more about someone from feinstein freshens. screen stop totty dot com. just give me can i speak with you sir let me finish please my son died in iraq i don't agree you don't agree we don't want to look for him my son isn't isn't it mary and i don't know what is crap we are going to try before you share. be. sure in your country. if the countries of yours. when you cross the moon are in hope to help you find it

. you find in so many old says war. and meet some. more news today violence has once again flared up. and these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. china corporations are today.

hello and welcome to cross talk i'm futile about democracy promotion the export of a universal set of values or the means to change and control the global order twenty years after the end of the cold war the united states and many of its allies continue to support individuals and groups around the world with the goal of influencing or even overthrowing foreign governments as america's influence the kleins relative to the rise of others is democracy promotion still in washington's interest. to cross-talk the export of democracy i'm joined by my guest in washington john glaser he's an assistant editor and blogger for antiwar dot com thomas carruthers he is the vice president for studies at the carnegie endowment for international peace and charles and he is a senior fellow at the council on foreign relations and a professor of international affairs at georgetown university right gentlemen cross-talk rosen a fact that means you can jump in anytime you want john if i can go to you first

where is america's democracy promotion program globally since the end of the cold war and in particularly in light of the the the uprisings in the arab world well the u.s. has been very troubled day shifts about democracy promotion contrary to what you hear in the rhetoric of politicians and it's most apparent we can just look at most recently in the arab spring. the us held on to mubarak as long as he possibly could and only ever since we've been very troubled basis about actual democracy taking hold their inbox rain we're holding back you know helping the khalifa regime suppress pro-democracy movement there in yemen we did sort of a. regime change with that you know didn't have much much to say about democracy was a one single candidate election and across the.